Pile and like clamp.



PATENTED APR. 24, 1906.

P. SHERIDAN. PILE AND LIKE CLAMP. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1905.

PHIL SHERIDAN, OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

PILE AND LIKE CLAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

L-atented April 24, 1906.

Application filed June 19, 1905. Serial No. 265,925.

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHIL SHERIDAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pile and Like Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for clamping or holding piles and like structures in position. while commencing to drive them.

It consists in clamps adapted to inclose the lower end of the cylinder or pile to be driven and means for temporarily locking the clamps until the pile is started.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is an elevation. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the jaw of the clamp.

It .is the object of my invention to provide a means for steadying and guiding piles, and particularly hollow piles which are built up of staves and of larger diameter, running from three to five feet. It is difficult to steady and guide such structures and hold them in proper position so that they will be correctly placed and started.

As shown in the drawings, A represents a portion of the frame of the piledriver.

2 is a cylindrical hollow pile which it is desirable to drive and to guide and to hold into position while driving.

3 'represents clamping-timbers, which may be preferably about sixteen inches wide and six inches thick. These timbers are of considerable length and at the rear end are secured to the pile-driver frame by sufficiently large bolts, as at 4, and these bolts form pivots about which the clamps are movable. The opposite ends of the clamps have their inner faces cut to a curvature, as at 5, which is approximately of the same radius as the periphery of the pile to be driven. This curved inner surface is protected by narrow metal plates 6, which are fitted to the surface and extend outward from the curve and are securely bolted through the clamp-timber 3. That portion of the metal strips which extends over the curved inner face is rounded or convexed, as shown at 7, so that there will be no angles to catch upon the hoops 8, by which the staves of the pile are handed. These hoops are made in segments and bolted together, and the flanges of the hoops are so placed when the pile is in position for driving that they will not come in line with the position of the clamps. lVhen the pile is placed,

the clamps are closed, so that the pile is clasped within the inner curve of the clamp 5.

In order to lock the clamps and prevent their being spread, I have shown latches, as at 9. These latches may be made of timber having notches formed in them, as at 10, and these notches are adapted to engage the outer sides of the clamping-timbers 3 after the clamps have been swung into contact with the pile. These pawl-timbers are pivoted to a fixed part of the pile-driver or framework, as shown at 11, and may be turned or tilted back about their pivot-points so as to be out of the way while the pile is being swung into place. hen the pile has approximately reached the osition where it is desired to drive it, the c amping-timbers 3 are closed in upon each side of the pile, and the pawls 9 are then dropped, so that the notches 10 will engage the outer side of the clamping-timbers, and thus hold them in place.

The pile is driven .in the usual mannerby blows or pressure and is retained in the desired line in which it is to be sunk by these clamps, which offer no hindrance to its being freely driven.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device for guiding and steadying piles while being driven, said device comprising a framework, clamps pivoted to the framework and closable horizontally to clasp the lower part of the pile, and members on the framework movable into contact with the closed clamps and holding said clamps against outward movement.

2. A device for guiding piles to be driven, said device comprising timbers pivoted to open and close horizontally with relation to the pile, said timbers having theirinnerguidefaces of contact made concaved, and pawls or stops engaging the clamps to hold them in position.

3. A device for guiding piles to be driven, said device comprising pivoted horizontallymovable clamplug-timbers, having the inner guide-surfaces made concave, metal strips bolted to the timbers forming shoes for the concaved surfaces, and pawls or stops to retain the timbers in position.

4. In a device for guiding piles to be driven, pivoted horizontally o )ening and closing clamping timbers having concaved faces adapted to fit about the sides of the pile,

metal strips forming shoes for the concavities In testimony whereof I have hereunto set of the clamps, said strips having their eonmy hand in presence of tWo subscribing Wittact-faces made convexed in vertlcal section, nesses.

and pivoted pawls 0r stops having notches PHIL SHERIDAN. adapted to engage the outer edges of the Witnesses: clamps between the timbers to hold them in ROBERT ANNls,

position. HOWARD SHERIDAN. 

